


Young Love Breaking Through the Ice

by texas_holdem1



Category: Bonanza, The Magnificent Seven (TV), Twilight (Movies)
Genre: Bonanza - Freeform, Other, Pre-Magnificent seven, Pre-Twilight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-01-29 18:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/texas_holdem1/pseuds/texas_holdem1
Summary: Alexandra McKenzie is an orphan who after living with several abusive families, has finally ended up with people who couldn't care less if she decided to go walk off a bridge. While in school, her worst phobia is discovered, and young Vin Tanner wants to help. Will young love melt the icy front, or will Alex stay the same forever?





	1. Phobia Discovered

**Author's Note:**

> I got an idea for a little story, mixing a couple of my favourite TV shows together. I wrote this chapter in a hurry so I expect there's quite a few mistakes in it. In the future, I'll try to take more time when writing! Here's the first chapter, and I hope you enjoy!

The young teen sitting in front of the principal's office was a pretty regular sight for other students and the janitors. The kid was there very often as she didn't seem to care about anything. Her notes were bad, she got into fights more often then she came to school, and what got everybody's attention was that her face always wore a cold emotionless expression. In the rare event that she was beaten in a fight, both she and her opponent would be very messed up. But she never, ever, cried. This was the life of 15 year old Alexandra McKenzie.  
The principal, a handsome dude called Adam Cartwright, had given up on dealing with Alex in the traditional way. Unfortunately for Alex, he still hadn't given up on her yet.  
Now the secretary called Alex in and sent her into the office. Adam was sitting behind his desk like usual, trying to keep his nervousness from showing. He knew he had too do it, but he personally didn't have any experience with what he was about to do.  
Alex like always checked out her surroundings, and immediately noticed the new paddle hanging on the wall.  
Adam should have looked up just then, because a look of pure fear clouded her eyes. Then, knowing that if things went bad escape would be easy, Alex sat down.  
"Hello, Alex. I wish I could say its nice to see you again. I believe you know why you're here again?" Adam paused, then instead of launching into the usual long sermon about how her life choices now would effect the way her life went, he went straight to business. "Since my former tactics weren't exactly working, I have decided to use a more old fashioned punishment." He got up and went to get the paddle from the wall.  
Alex's face was getting sweaty, her hands were clammy, and her heart was beating faster then she could remember it ever beating, except for the time the ugly, scumbag of the man who had "adopted" her at the time had tried to – no. She wasn't going to think about that. Alex focused on breathing regularly, and keeping her best poker face on.  
Adam had by now turned around, and he noticed that her poker face was even more emotionless than usual, and for a moment he thought he glimpsed raw fear in her eyes, before it disappeared.  
Instinct and experience told Alex that showing her fear would only be bad for her. In the past, whenever a foster parent caught on to her phobia, the beatings had only gotten worse and more cruel.  
Now Adam was walking towards her, paddle in hand, telling her to get over the table. His voice wasn't cruel, it was more compassionate and quite. Alex didn't notice though; her brain was fuzzy as she kept getting flashbacks of several couples of abusive foster parents, her eyesight too was dim and unfocused, and her ears rang with evil laughs and the sounds of a whip hitting flesh mixed with somebody's – was that her – screams.  
For all the years she'd practiced self control, she now couldn't take it any more, and she jumped up with a scream and ran for the door. It was locked on the inside, and by the time her claustrophobic fingers had fumbled the lock open, Adam was beside her, taking her arm, talking in low soothing tones.  
Alex didn't hear though. She felt Adam's touch and her elbow jerked back into his stomach and her fist connected soundly with his chin, sending him staggering back a couple steps, which gave her enough time to get out of his office. She ran passed the astonished secretary, and through the door into the hall.  
"Alex. Stop!" She heard Adam's voice close behind her, and she picked up her pace, realizing that he was already close. Students stopped and stared, but neither Adam nor Alex paid them any mind.  
She was close to the door outside by now, and she put on a burst of speed.  
A dude with long brown hair came though the door, looking through his papers instead of where he was going. Alex checked behind her to see how far away Adam was, and collided full force with the dude.  
Any normal guy would have gone down, but this guy only staggered back a little as his papers went flying.  
He grabbed her instinctively to keep her from falling, but Alex, in full survival mode by now, swung at his face. The punch surprised him more than it hurt but he let go of her just the same, and Alex continued on out the doors.  
"What happened?" He asked Adam.  
Adam explained the situation in as little words as possible, and glanced over his shoulder. "I have a very important meeting in five minutes, but somebody has to follow her to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. I don't know what happened to her back there."  
"I'll go after her." The long haired dude said. He had noticed her always present mask that she used to protect herself before, and also that she was literally always alone when she wasn't fighting, and he'd meant to talk to her. Maybe get to know her a bit.  
"Thank you so much, Vin!" Adam clapped the younger man on the shoulder. "I'll see you later."  
Vin Tanner nodded, and dug his truck keys out of his pocket as he hurried out the door in pursuit of Alex.


	2. Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vin decides Alex needs more than a lift home; she actually doesn't have a home, and he really wants to give her one. Will the girl herself agree?

Alex ran. She didn't know where she was going but all her instincts told her that she had to get away from that place.  
Her head was flooded with thoughts that she tried to block out. 'Now they know. I should have kept it under control! Now they know. I'm so damn stupid. Now they know, they know, know.' It echoed in her head driving her crazy and making her grasp her head. There was an alley to the right, and she ran in there. It was darker in there, and she was alone with her thoughts.  
"Why hello sweetheart." A drunken slur beside her made her mentally jump. "What a pleasant surprise for a lonely man to find in a little alley."  
She immediately knew he had been drinking, and she also remembered from past experiences what drunk men did.  
Alex moved a little, so that she was in a crouched position from which she could easily spring up, and got ready.  
The man kept advancing on her. He finally was so close, that she could smell the liquor he reeked of.  
He bent oveover her, and she took the opportunity to bring her head up forcefully, hitting him in his stomach. He staggered back in surprise, which gave her enough time to punch him in his face. He went down, and Alex knocked him out by hitting him in that place on his neck.  
She heard a roar of anger, and looked up to see two more drunks advancing on her.  
"You're not gonna beat up one of our friends and get away with it!" One of them roared.  
Alex quickly checked her options. There was a high fence behind her, and the men blocked the other way out. She was obviously cornered, and her chances against two drunk men were pretty slim, by she wasn't going down without a fight.  
The first man advanced on her, and she booted him in the stomach, then as he doubled over in pain, she brought her right fist up in a strong uppercut that sent him rereeling. Now the other guy attacked her. He wasn't as easy to get down, and by that time the other guy was getting up.  
Alex saw her chances slimming and decided to make a run for it as soon as the opportunity arose.  
All of a sudden, a heavy hand landed on one man's shoulder, and spun him around. The drunk roared in surprise, and the longhaired boy Alex had run into knocked him flat with one blow. Alex wondered briefly why he was doing this – most likely he just wanted Alex for himself – then turned back to the other man. She kneed him in his stomach and was ready with killer uppercut when he doubled.  
All three men now on the ground, the other kid grinned at her. "Nice uppercut." He complemented.  
Alex nodded to show she'd heard him, but kept her protective stance.  
"My name is Vin Tanner. I live in the area." Vin said quietly. When Alex neither relaxed nor offered to introduce herself, Vin softened his voice even more. "It's alright. You can trust me."  
The voice was so calm and soothing, and Alex's mask flickered before she made her face expressionless again. All of a sudden she felt exhausted; completely drained of energy, and she leaned against the wall, a little more relaxed in spite of herself.  
Vin smiled softly; it worked! He didn't have any super powers like his friend/mentor Dr. Carlisle Cullen's kids had, but the procedure of relaxing and quieting the emotions of others, had been explained to him in great detail by one of his brothers in the Kiowa tribe.  
"Come on, darlin'." Vin said gently, taking Alex's arm and leading her to his truck.  
For once Alex didn't hear anything threatening in a man calling her darling, and she didn't pull out of his gentle grasp the way she usually would.  
Vin helped her up into the truck, then closed the door and went to the driver's side of the truck.  
When he was finally seated, he checked to see if Alex's seatbelt was fastened, then turned on the radio as he put the truck in drive.  
The song was Alison Kraus' "When You Say Nothing At all", and Vin could see Alex mentally relaxing as she listened to every beautiful note.  
They got to Vin's apartment, and Vin parked the car, and got out. He opened Alex's door, and offered his hand. She didn't take it though; she got out by herself.  
Alex looked around. She guessed this was where Vin lived, but she wasn't quite sure what she was doing there. She told herself that nothing good would come of this, but his soothing voice and gentle touch made her really want to trust him.  
Vin led her into the building, and towards the elevafor. He realized at the last moment that Alex might be scared in a tight space like that with no way to get out. He was scared of small spaces as well, but his phobia had gotten noticeably better in the last couple years.  
Trudging up the stairs also gave both of them more time to think.  
When they reached Vin's apartment, he pulled out his keys, and unlocked the door.  
The reason Vin had brought her here, was that he'd heard how her current foster parents were, and figured it'd be good for her to have a safe place where she could rest, and maybe someday call home instead of the cold house she lived in now. His goal was that after a while she'd start trusting him and the apartment enough to hopefully drop the mask and be herself.  
Vin seated her on the couch, and went into his little kitchen. He got two cups, coffee, cream, and sugar. He put all that on a little table, then looked at Alex.  
"Sugar or cream?" He asked.  
"Black." Alex said, looking at him briefly, before she continued visually checking out the place. She saw a door that she assumed led to a bedroom, the bathroom was to the left, and there was the kitchen Alex had just come out of. The apartment was pretty small, with the biggest room being the bedroom. She guessed that's where he spent most his time, doing homework and other such stuff.  
Vin handed Alex the cup with strong black coffee, and sat down on the chair opposite Alex. He figured she still needed some space, and he sure didn't want to hurry anything.  
"What do you want with me?" Alex asked suddenly.  
"I want to help you, Alex." Vin said.  
"Why?"  
"Because you need help." Vin stated bluntly.  
"No I don't." Alex said, taking the offensive. "And anyway, that's none of your business."  
Vin shrugged. "I believe I just made it my business. Alex, how would you like to move in here? It would be good for both of us, and I give you my word that I'm a gentleman, and won't try anything. I'll sleep on the couch in here, and you can have my room."  
Alex started, but stayed quiet until Vin finished. "Why would you want to do that?" She questioned.  
"Like I said before, I only want to help you."  
"What about legally? I'm only 15, and my foster parents have the right to keep me in their house."  
"That's just it: they're your foster parents. They don't have much say in the matter, and if you wanted me instead of them as a gaurdian, it should be easily accomplished."  
"How old are you, anyway?" Alex asked.  
"18." Vin said.  
"Well, I guess anything's better than them." Alex said, not even wanting to speak the name of the people.  
Vin grinned, relieved. He'd hoped for a more enthusiastic reply, but this was a good start. "Good. We can go over to that house, and get your stuff immediately."


End file.
